Smoking could play a direct role in the development of schizophrenia and needs to be investigated, researchers say.

Article: Such a public  display of state brutality is unprecedented, but the ultra-secretive nature of the state means that observers can never really claim to know exactly what happened and when.
This is how the news came out.
When Kim Jong-il died in 2011 it was Chang Song-thaek, the man who married his sister, who stood right behind the young new leader Kim Jong-un flanking the hearse as it processed through Pyongyang.
He is thought to have mentored his nephew during that crucial transition. Analysts believed he was a powerful force, advising his nephew as he took the helm.
The extraordinary news coming from North Korea was promptly leaked to the media by an opposition lawmaker. South Korean spies told a parliamentary committee that he had been removed from key posts and that two of his close confidantes had been publicly executed in mid-November.
Within hours South Korean intelligence told media that they had indeed heard that Chang Song-Thaek had been removed as vice-chairman of the North's top military body, the National Defence Commission  and as a department head of the ruling Workers' Party.
Still without official confirmation from the north, it became clear that he had at least fallen out of favour when state TV edited him out of a documentary that had reportedly been broadcast nine times already.
When The Great Comrade aired the weekend after news filtered out of Chang's dismissal, it was without pictures of the leader's uncle.  He had been comprehensively cut out the film.
Finally, on 9 December, North Korea provided confirmation in an unprecedented manner by releasing images of Chang Song-thaek being removed from a public meeting.  Pictures released by the KCNA state news agency show uniformed guards approaching Chang Song-thaek.
The guards then appear to remove Mr Chang from his seat in full view of his former colleagues - some stare impassively at the proceedings  while others keep their eyes downturned.
The series of images played out on KCNA that day focused heavily on Kim Jong-un.
Some analysts...

Summary: News of the fall from grace and execution of the once powerful uncle of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un emerged in the space of 10 days.
###
Article: The permit will allow those living in Reading, Wokingham and Bracknell to use Smallmead Recycling Centre in Whitley.
But, residents west of Reading will be barred from using the site from 1 July due to cuts to funding.
West Berkshire Council withdrew Â£97,000 from its funding for waste disposal in the town, in March.
The authority decided the costs to cover the 75,000 visits to the tip each year, made by people crossing the border into Reading, were "too high".
This led to the establishment of Re3 - the recycling company which provides waste services to Bracknell, Wokingham and Reading councils - to bar West Berkshire residents from using the tips from July.
West Berkshire councillor Alan Macro said Re3's decision could lead to more fly-tipping in the area.
"What they have done wrong is that they have acted before they have an alternative for people who live in the general Reading area", he said.
Tilehurst resident Brian Pettiford - who uses the Smallmead tip regularly - said the changes will mean people living in Calcot and Tilehurst will have to drive up to 20 miles to access rubbish tips in Newbury as opposed to a 5 miles trip to Smallmead.
"I feel very bitter that we have to go to Newbury, which is over 15 miles away. It would be good if [Re3] would charge for a permit to use the tip," he said.
West Berkshire Council said financial challenges meant "some difficult decisions about the services provided" had to be made.

Summary: A permit will be needed for some Berkshire residents to dump waste under new rules being brought into force.
###
Article: First Minister Alex Salmond and shadow Scottish secretary Margaret Curran were concentrating on the drinks industry.
Campaigning has continued as polling suggested the pro-independence campaign may be closing the gap on its rivals.
It comes ahead of voters going to the polls in the 18 September Scottish independence referendum.
Tuesday is also the deadline for people in Scotland to register to vote.
Mr Salmond was setting out his vision of the gains of independence for the food and drink industry on a visit to Eden Mill distillery and brewery in Guardbridge, Fife.
"More and more people are waking up to the fact that Scotland has a strong and diverse economy on which we can build a more prosperous future with control of key economic levers," said the first minister.
"Scotland is currently in the international spotlight like never before, but the huge publicity generated by a 'Yes' vote - and the transition to independence - will be the opportunity of a lifetime for our food and drink sector to extend its global reach even further."
Ms Curran, who was visiting Glasgow's Tennent Caledonian Breweries, argued: "Around one million jobs in Scotland rely on companies based elsewhere in the UK and many more are with companies that rely on trade with England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
"Young people across Scotland can't afford to have opportunities cut off. We want a strong Scotland backed up by a strong United Kingdom. Being part of the UK means that we can share our resources across the country."
Meanwhile, the Yes Scotland campaign said support for independence had risen eight points in less than a month, pointing to a new YouGov poll indicating that, excluding "don't knows", 53% of those questioned planned to vote "No", while 47% would back "Yes".
Yes Scotland chief executive Blair Jenkins, said: "This breakthrough poll shows that 'Yes' has the big momentum - it's an all-time high for 'Yes' support in a YouGov survey so far, and an eight-point swing from 'No' to 'Yes' in just three weeks.
"We only need another...

Summary: Both sides in the Scottish referendum debate are focusing on jobs, just a few weeks ahead of the vote on the nation's future.
###
Article: Its analysis suggests Brexit would cause inflation to rise, eroding the value of state pension increases, costing recipients £137 a year.
Those with an additional pension pot worth £60,000 would see its value drop by £1,900, the Treasury said.
However, Vote Leave said the analysis was "utterly outrageous".
Former Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, who is campaigning for Vote Leave, said: "This is an utterly outrageous attempt by the government to do down people's pensions and is little more than a cynical attempt to distract from the government's broken promises on immigration."
"The biggest threat to British pensions is the European Commission's proposals to undermine occupational pensions, which the government themselves have described as 'damaging and reckless'.
"Meanwhile, tax proposals from Eurozone countries will wipe billions off British assets hitting pension funds hardest," he said.
The Treasury analysis also looked at the impact Brexit would have on someone aged 50.
Its analysis found that an individual with pension savings of £20,000, who is contributing 8% of their earnings into a pension fund between now and 2030, would be between £223 and £335 a year worse off in retirement.
Chancellor George Osborne said: "Much of the [Brexit] debate so far has focused on the potential economic fallout of a vote for Leave for those now in work, in terms of the impact on their jobs.
"But it's important that pensioners understand what's at stake for them too on 23 June.
"Pensioners who have worked hard all their lives deserve dignity, security and certainty in retirement. That's what we all hope for and what any responsible government should seek to provide," the Chancellor said.
Pensions minister Baroness Altmann, told the BBC's Today programme, that there was a "consensus" among major economic bodies such as the Institute of Fiscal Studies, the OECD, the head of the IMF and the Bank of England  that the British economy would be weaker if there was a vote to leave the EU.
"I have looked at pensions for years....

Summary: The Treasury has warned that millions of current and future pensioners will be worse off if the UK leaves the European Union.
###
Article: The series portrays the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, who was shot dead by police in 1993, and the Medellin drug cartel he lead.
Roberto Escobar said he wanted to determine the accuracy of the contents.
The second season is expected to focus on the drug lord's escape from prison.
Roberto Escobar registered for "successor-in-interest rights" to Pablo Escobar and the Escobar family name in California in 2015, meaning that he has assumed the rights, duties, obligations and assets of Pablo Escobar's business.
In his letter to Netflix, Roberto Escobar writes: "It is my wish that you do not release any Narcos television show or any other show or shows depicting me, my family or my brother Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria, unless I am given the rightful opportunity to review this material."
He alleges that "in the first season or Narcos, there were mistakes, lies and discrepancies from the real story, the story that I was not only part of making, but that I survived from [sic]".
Roberto Escobar worked as his brother's accountant for years and in his letter he describes himself as "Pablo's closest ally".
He also warns Netflix not to release any merchandise "as we control all such rights".
The second season of Narcos is scheduled to be released in September.
Mr Escobar ends the letter, which was obtained by TMZ, by pointing out it is meant "as a friendly request for co-operation".
However his last sentence appears to have a slightly menacing undertone as it evokes the memory of the late Pablo Escobar, who ordered the killing of thousands of people.
"All we want to do is make sure that things are done right. My brother would not have liked season 1, maybe he will enjoy season 2 if you respond me [sic] and we solve this [sic] issue."
Netflix have not yet commented on the letter.
The first season of Narcos portrayed Pablo Escobar's rise to power as the head of the Medellin drugs cartel and the efforts by US anti-drug agents to hunt him down.
Two US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents who took part in the hunt for...

Summary: Roberto Escobar, the brother of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, has written to the video streaming company Netflix asking to review the second season of the series Narcos.
###
Article: The team at King's College London say smokers are more likely to develop the disorder and at a younger age.
Published in the Lancet Psychiatry, their analysis of 61 separate studies suggests nicotine in cigarette smoke may be altering the brain.
Experts said it was a "pretty strong case" but needed more research.
Smoking has long been associated with psychosis, but it has often been believed that schizophrenia patients are more likely to smoke because they use cigarettes as a form of self-medication to ease the distress of hearing voices or having hallucinations.
The team at King's looked at data involving 14,555 smokers and 273,162 non-smokers.
It indicated:
The argument is that if there is a higher rate of smoking before schizophrenia is diagnosed, then smoking is not simply a case of self-medication.
Dr James MacCabe, from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King's, said: "It's very difficult to establish causation [with this style of study], what we're hoping that this does is really open our eyes to the possibility that tobacco could be a causative agent in psychosis, and we hope this will then lead to other research and clinical trials that would help to provide firmer evidence."
Clearly most smokers do not develop schizophrenia, but the researchers believe it is increasing the risk.
The overall incidence of the condition is one in every 100 people normally, which may be increased to two per 100 by smoking.
The researchers said nicotine altered levels of the brain chemical dopamine, which has already been implicated in the psychosis.
Prof Michael Owen, the director of the Institute of Psychological Medicine at Cardiff University, said the researchers had made a "pretty strong case" that smoking may increase the risk of schizophrenia.
"The fact is that it is very hard to prove causation without a randomised trial, but there are plenty of good reasons already for targeting public health measures very energetically at the mentally ill."
The charity Rethink Mental Illness said: "We...

Summary:


The Royal Mail has painted a postbox gold in the Oxfordshire town of Henley-on-Thames - in recognition of its medal winning rowing club.

Article: In a statement,the US Department of Agriculture saidschools buying beef from a central government scheme could now choose from a range of options.
The term has become used to describe a type of beef trimming commonly found in school and restaurant beef in the US.
Reports it was widely used in schools prompted a popular outcry, although the beef is certified as safe to eat.
Social media campaigns and an online petition sprung up to oppose the use of the product. The beef's producerled a campaignto explain it was nutritional and safe.
Last year, British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver publicly criticised the product on his now-defunct US TV show, and McDonald's recently said it would phase out the use of "pink slime" in its burgers.
The US agriculture department said on Thursday it would now offer alternatives to the beef - officially called lean finely textured beef - for schools buying meat through its programmes.
The department (USDA) said the change was "due to customer demand".
"USDA continues to affirm the safety of Lean Finely Textured Beef product for all consumers and urges customers to consult science based information on the safety and quality of this product," it added.
School administrators reacted positively to the change.
"Our district has long advocated for purity and disclosure in food products. And we will definitely be moving to the pure ground beef when that becomes available," John Schuster, spokesman for Florida's Miami-Dade school system, told the Associated Press.
"Pink slime" - a term reportedly coined by a microbiologist working for the US government - is a form of lean beef formed by reclaiming the small parts of meat from leftover cuts with a high fat content.
The beef is spun in a centrifuge to separate the meat from the fat, before the final product is treated with a puff of ammonium hydroxide gas to kill any bacteria.
Produced in bulk by a firm in South Dakota, the pejorative nature of the term "pink slime" has coloured the debate, some experts say.
It is "unappetising", Sarah Klein,...

Summary: Schools across the US are to be allowed to stop serving so-called "pink slime" beef to their pupils at mealtimes.
###
Article: In an interview with the Observer, Anne Longfield criticised the ways social media giants use to draw children into spending more time.
She said parents should be proactive in stopping their children from bingeing on the internet in the summer holidays.
Ms Longfield has launched a campaign to help parents with the issue.
She said: "It's something that every parent will talk about especially during school holidays; that children are in danger of seeing social media like sweeties, and their online time like junk food.
"None of us as parents would want our children to eat junk food all the time.
"For those same reasons we shouldn't want our children to do the same with their online time."
Use talk to tame online habits
US changes toddler screen time advice
The commissioner added: "When phones, social media and games make us feel worried, stressed and out of control, it means we haven't got the balance right.
"With your diet, you know that, because you don't feel that good. It's the same with social media."
Last year, industry watchdog Ofcom said the internet overtook television as the most popular media pastime for children in the UK.
Children aged five to 15 are spending 15 hours a week on the internet.
Ms Longfield said children should be helped to understand that sites encourage them to continue their use based on what they have previously been doing online.
A study earlier this year of screen time and mental wellbeing among teenagers suggested that moderate use of devices may be beneficial.
The research, which appeared in the journal Psychological Science, was based self-reported data from 120,000 15-year-olds in England.

Summary: Parents must intervene to stop their children overusing social media and consuming time online "like junk food", the children's commissioner has said.
###
Article: The European Commission has given Glybera marketing authorisation, meaning it can be sold throughout the EU.
It is a gene therapy for a rare disease which leaves people unable to properly digest fats.
The manufacturers say it will be available next year.
Gene therapy has a simple premise. If there is a problem with part of a patient's genetic code then change the code.
However, the field has been plagued with problems. Patients have developed leukaemia and in one trial in the US a teenager died.
In Europe and the US, the therapies are used only in research labs.
Glybera is used to treat lipoprotein lipase deficiency. One in a million people have damaged copies of a gene which is essential for breaking down fats.
It means fat builds up in the blood leading to abdominal pain and life-threatening inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis).
The only way to manage the condition is by having a very low-fat diet.
The therapy, developed by UniQure, uses a virus to infect muscle cells with a working copy of the gene.
The European Medicines Agency recommended the therapy was made available for the most severely ill patients earlier in 2012.
UniQure chief executive officer Jorn Aldag said: "The final approval of Glybera from the European Commission marks a major step forward in making gene therapies available not only for lipoprotein lipase deficiency, but also for a large number of rare diseases with a very high unmet medical need."
The company said it would apply for regulatory approval in the US and Canada.
China was the first country to officially sanction a gene therapy.

Summary: A treatment which corrects errors in a person's genetic code has been approved for commercial use in Europe for the first time.
###
Article: The Anglian Sovereign covers Orkney and Shetland but was sent to shadow the escort of a cargo ship to Lewis after it ran aground on Monday night.
The incident came just days after the Western Isles' tug, Anglian Monarch, was withdrawn from coastguard duties.
Other UK emergency towing vessels were withdrawn last year.
In October, the UK government agreed to short extensions to the contracts for the hire of two vessels for Scotland following a campaign by local authorities and politicians.
The funding package for the Anglian Monarch ended at the weekend and at midnight for the Anglian Sovereign.
Talks are still going on between the UK government and the oil and gas industry about how future cover for the Northern Isles might be provided and funded.
Shetland Islands Council convener Sandy Cluness had described the withdrawal of the Anglian Sovereign without a deal being finalised as a "disgrace".
However, MP Alistair Carmichael has told BBC Scotland that the vessel will stay on duty to allow an agreement to be reached.

Summary: The contract for the UK's last coastguard tug has been extended after earlier plans to withdraw it from duties at midnight were abandoned.
###
Article: Figures for January show it affected more than 3,000 people.
It comes as the number of people being seen at A&E across Wales within four hours improved slightly last month.
The figure of 82.3% is up from 81% in December, but is still well below the 95% Welsh government target.
In total, 73,199 people attended emergency departments last month.
The statistics refer to time taken until admission, transfer or discharge, not just the time it took for someone to be seen for the first time.
A Welsh government spokesman said emergency units are seeing increasingly more patients.
"Despite these increases in demand, the latest statistics for January show that eight out of 10 patients spent less than four hours in A&E units from arrival until admission, transfer or discharge," he said.
"However, the number of patients waiting over 12 hours is unacceptable. We expect health boards to work with local authorities and other partners to ensure that patients can be treated, admitted and discharged appropriately and receive safe and effective care."
Helen Birtwhistle, director of the Welsh NHS Confederation, said emergency units were under increasing pressure and a "system-wide change" in treatment is needed.

Summary: The number of people spending more than 12 hours in accident and emergency in Wales is at its highest since records began in 2012.
###
Article: The town is home to the prestigious Leander Club, which has trained more than 100 Olympic medal-winning rowers.
Prime Minister David Cameron previously said the plan was a "very good idea".
Royal Mail spokesman Simon Fellman said: "We're delighted to do it and we're pleased so many people are delighted about it."
The Royal Mail has painted more than 50 postboxes gold following Team GB's gold medal haul at London 2012.
Originally it said it was only painting them in "winners' home towns, or towns with which they are closely associated".
Town mayor Elizabeth Hodgkin said: "We are the home of rowing... I feel very excited about it.
"I think it's wonderful news, it's a great thing for the town."
Mr Fellman said: "It's almost like the torch has come again. It's a piece of the Olympics coming back to people's doorsteps.
"The support for the boxes, it's kind of like the new tourist attraction. It's fantastic and I think people have really taken it to their hearts."
The Henley-on-Thames postbox was painted on Friday.
The town is holding a victory bus parade for more than 24 Olympians on 25 August, along with a civic reception.

Summary:

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Guernsey have retained their Island Games team table tennis title after beating Gotland 4-2 in Jersey.

Article: A number of options are being considered to improve care in the north of the county, including removing consultant-led services from Whitehaven's West Cumberland Hospital.
The boss of North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust said it does not look like Whitehaven has the "infrastructure" to maintain services.
Midwives have raised safety concerns.
They have warned mothers and babies "may die" if consultant-led maternity services are removed from Whitehaven and concentrated at Carlisle Cumberland Infirmary.
Trust chief executive Stephen Eames told BBC Cumbria: "The options we are looking at are likely to mean there will be changes in maternity services and they're likely to mean we'll need to concentrate our expertise in our consultant staff in one place.
"Everybody involved would prefer a consultant-led service in both, but I think the reality is it isn't just about maternity, it's about the other clinical services that support it.
"So while we've made some improvements in children's services recruitment it doesn't look like we can recruit the infrastructure to support two independent consultant-led services."
Midwives at Whitehaven are concerned mothers facing unexpected problems would need a potentially risky 40-mile (64km) transfer across the county.
Earlier this month, Bernadette Bowness said: "We're going to become a third world area because of our inaccessibility to a consultant-led unit.
"If ladies have to be transferred, mothers may die, babies may die.
"If babies have foetal distress, what with the transfer time they may end up brain damaged."
A public consultation exercise will be launched next month to gauge opinion on the future direction of services provided by the trust.
The organisation has been in special measures since 2014 after Care Quality Commission inspectors judged it to be failing to provide a sufficiently high level of care in a number of areas.

Summary: Further doubt has been cast over the future of specialist-led maternity care at a Cumbrian hospital.
###
Article: Department for Education data shows 10% of nursery staff earn less than Â£7.20 an hour the minimum for over-25s.
The Family and Childcare Trust says the government must ensure the nurseries it subsidises do not flout the law.
But a group representing private, voluntary and independent sector nurseries rejected the trust's claims.
Ellen Broome, deputy chief executive of the Family and Childcare Trust, said nursery workers cared for and educated the next generation and deserved decent pay.
"But instead they are being exploited and paid illegal poverty wages. This cannot be right," she said.
She urged central and local government to act immediately to make sure that every childcare worker was paid a decent wage and that taxpayers' money did not go to employers who broke the law.
"High quality childcare does not come on the cheap," she added.
The trust took data from the DfE's childcare provider survey published last month.
It then took figures on the total number of childcare workers from research carried out by the Institute of Education in London.
But the Pre-Schools Learning Alliance, which represents private, independent and voluntary early years settings, said: "The DfE survey that this claim is based on began collecting data in March 2016 - the month before the National Living Wage was actually introduced."
It is clear, however, from the published survey that the data collection went on until July.
The Pre-Schools Learning Alliance said: "No childcare provider should be paying their employees less than the national minimum or living wage, and it is of course right that any instances of this happening are investigated and dealt with appropriately.
"However, we completely reject the claim that such breaches are happening on anywhere near the scale that the Family and Childcare Trust are suggesting, and our analysis of the same DfE data indicates that any such suggestions are both misleading and irresponsible."
It said: "There's no doubt that low pay in the early years sector remains a significant problem,...

Summary: Up to 20,000 nursery workers are illegally being paid below the minimum wage in England, analysis of government data by a childcare charity suggests.
###
Article: The Office of Rail and Road said 12.3% of trains - nearly one in eight - were not on time last year - the worst performance for a 12-month period since the year ending September 2006, at 12.5%.
More than a quarter of Govia Thameslink Railway services, owner of strike-hit Southern, were not on time, it said.
Rail operators said strikes had hit punctuality in south-east England.
But elsewhere, punctuality was at a "record high", said the Rail Delivery Group, which represents train operators and Network Rail.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union announced on Wednesday that its members on Southern will walk out for 24 hours on 22 February in the row over guards' roles on trains.
And on Thursday, it was announced that drivers' union Aslef had rejected a deal with Southern rail that would have ended their dispute.
The rail industry counts trains as being on time if they arrive at their terminating stations within five minutes of their schedule for commuter services and within 10 minutes for long-distance routes.
Lianna Etkind, of the Campaign for Better Transport, said the figures showed that train firms were "still delivering a very lacklustre service" despite "sky-high prices".
The figures also showed 3.8% of trains across Britain were cancelled or at least half an hour late last year.
Ms Etkind said the government needed to give passengers "an affordable and reliable rail service".
"They should begin by ensuring that rail contracts give stronger incentives for punctuality, reliability and passenger service, as has successfully happened on London Overground and Merseyrail," she said.
She also said there should be "investment into those worn-out parts of the network which cause delays".
A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group said: "In London and the south east, a combination of congestion on the network, prolonged strike action and disruption while major upgrades take place is hitting punctuality.
"Across the railway, train operators and Network Rail are working together every day to deliver more reliable and...

Summary: The number of trains that run on time in the UK has reached its lowest level in a decade, figures show.
###
Article: Protests against the move led to looting in parts of the country, with shops attacked and roads blocked.
Some cash machines on Thursday were still issuing the old 100-bolivar notes, hours before they expired.
President Nicolas Maduro said new higher-denomination bills would be fully distributed in January.
He has closed the borders with Brazil and Colombia until Sunday to stop "mafias" hoarding the currency abroad.
Anger over the move led to skirmishes in six cities on Friday, the Associated Presss reported the authorities as saying, with 32 people being taken into custody and one injured.
The sense of frustration has been compounded because there has been no official explanation as to why bank branches throughout Venezuela do not yet  appear to have the larger denomination bank notes intended to replace 100-bolivar notes.
The opposition argues the currency initiative is another sign that President Maduro is ruining the economy and must be ousted.
Venezuelans have been queuing outside banks after they were given 72 hours to exchange the 100-bolivar note for new larger denomination notes and coins.
The 100-bolivar note is worth just two US cents on the black market.
Venezuelans mock 'useless' banknote
What's behind the crisis in Venezuela?
Some people on Thursday still received the 100-bolivar notes when they withdrew money at ATMs, then immediately had to queue up again to re-deposit the soon-to-expire notes.
"I don't get the joke," office worker Yarelis Carrero, who lives in the capital Caracas, told the AFP news agency. "When you withdraw cash at the ATMs, they give you 100-bolivar bills. And you can't get the new ones inside the bank, either."
Another bank customer said no-one had seen the new bank notes yet. "A guy I know who works for an armoured truck company said even they haven't seen them. Pure lies!" Saul Bernal said.
But President Maduro praised Venezuelans for their understanding in a televised address on Thursday.
"This is a big effort we're doing to tackle so many evils and tricks. We're burning...

Summary: Venezuela's highest denomination banknote has ceased to be legal tender, in a move that has caused cash chaos and long queues at banks.
###
Article: Some 24 offenders in high-security jails had been segregated for more than six months on 1 June, Whitemoor's Independent Monitoring Board said.
Prisoners can be segregated for their protection, as punishment or to prevent trouble. But the measure should be used as a "last resort", regulations say.
The Prison Service said segregation played an "important role".
In its report, the Independent Monitoring Board said most prisoners in segregation "were complex to manage, either in terms of compliance or in respect of getting them back onto mainstream accommodation."
It said seven of the 24 prisoners who had been held in segregation for six months or more were at Whitemoor, Cambridgeshire.
BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said the case of a prisoner being held for two-and-a-half years - at various segregation units - is one of the longest on record.
In 2013, however, it emerged an inmate at HMP Bronzefield had been held in segregation for more than five years.
At the time, the chief inspector of prisons said it amounted to "cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment".
Concerns have been raised about the long-term impact of prolonged segregation on mental health.
In a 2014 report, the chief inspector of prisons said use of "special accommodation" at Whitemoor "was not always justified and there was evidence that prisoners remained there too long".
And earlier this year, the prison ombudsman said governors had been warned "about the risk of holding vulnerable prisoners in segregation units" after eight suicides in 2013-14 - the highest number for almost a decade.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: "Segregated prisoners are not held in isolation, and are provided with as normal a regime as possible. They are also visited on a daily basis by a member of healthcare staff."

Summary: An inmate at Whitemoor Prison has been held in segregation for two-and-a-half years, it has emerged.
###
Article: Guernsey won gold in 2011, the last time table tennis was included in the sports programme for the Island Games.
Alice Loveridge won her women's singles match and teamed up with Dawn Morgan and Garry Dodd for doubles wins.
Dodd beat Bjorn Axelsson 3-1 in the singles, but lost to Nisse Lundberg, who also beat Alex Robinson 3-0 in the opening men's singles match.
Gotland and Guernsey have shared the table tennis gold medals between them for the past decade.
Gotland took gold in 2009, when Guernsey were third, and beat the Sarnians in the 2007 final.
That victory was revenge for the 2005 final, when Guernsey beat the Swedish island.Island hotshots increase medal tally
Jonathan De La Haye won Jersey's seventh shooting gold medal at the 2015 Island Games.
De La Haye took top spot in the men's individual sport trap, beating Dan Bishop of the Isle of Wight by a single point with Guernsey's Andrew Ashplant getting the bronze.
Sarah Campion and Susan De Gruchy won silver in the women's 100 yards prone rifle team event, finishing 15 points behind eventual winners Isle of Man.
Fellow Jersey shooter Caroline De La Haye won bronze in the women's individual sport trap.
Guernsey's Jacek Hanca has won silver in the 50m free pistol, finishing 13 points off Matthew Reed from the Isle of Wight.
Sark celebrated a second shooting medal as Nick Dewe returned to the podium. Dewe, who won team automatic ball trap bronze on Monday, took silver in the individual event.

Summary:


The population of Northern Ireland is projected to rise by 5.3% to 1,938,700 by 2024.

Article: Property prices rose by 7.1% on average in the year to the end of January, with the typical home costing Â£191,812, the Land Registry said.
The fastest increase was a 13.9% rise in London, compared with the slowest of 0.2% in the North East of England.
Official figures showed the average cost of renting rose at a slower pace.
Private rental prices paid by tenants in Britain rose by 2.6% in the 12 months to the end of January, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. Rents rose by 2.7% in England, 0.3% in Wales and 0.8% in Scotland, it concluded.
These figures include new instructions and people already in a rental arrangement. Agents say that the cost of new rental agreements is going up much faster than that.
The Land Registry said that the North East and North West of England recorded falls in property prices in January compared with December.
All other regions saw a month-on-month rise in prices ranging from a 3.7% increase in Wales to a 0.6% rise in Yorkshire and the Humber.
These monthly figures can be relatively volatile and the way these changes are calculated varies between house price surveys.
The Land Registry said that, in the year to the end of January, the cost of flats and maisonettes rose faster than any other type of property, up by 8.2%.
Many commentators are predicting further house price increases in many areas of the UK, owing to the number of homes on the market failing to match demand.

Summary: House prices rose in every region of England and Wales in the past year - but the pace of increase was vastly different, figures show.
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Article: Media playback is not supported on this device
The Super 8s format, introduced in 2015, sees the 12-team Super League and Championship split into three mini-leagues after 23 regular-season rounds.
"I'm not a fan of it," ex-Great Britain coach Noble told the Super League Show.
"If you want to build a competition, you've got to have a reasonable amount of stability."
He continued: "We put things off and off. If not now, then when? We've got to find a formula that's going to please everybody."
Teams in the second Super 8s group - the Qualifiers - must finish in the top three, or win the 'Million Pound Game', to play in the Super League in the following season.
Apart from the structure issue, Super League general manager Mark Foster recently said that the RFL would be willing to listen to clubs seeking to relocate to new territory.
The discussion has made more pertinent by the situation with Wakefield, who are to leave Belle Vue at the end of the season and have struggled to reach agreement for a new, purpose-built venue in their home borough.
Under a new proposal, a team in Wakefield's position could apply to move to a new location with a suitable venue and interested investors, as rugby union side Wasps did when they relocated from London to Coventry.
"Why not have a Super League team in Cumbria?" Noble added. "I think new teams bring new excitement. We've got take some brave steps.
"If there is a vision for something, we should all work towards it. If we can't find a way forward with that, then where are we going?"

Summary: The Rugby Football League needs to take "brave steps" and reshuffle the game's structure, says Toronto Wolfpack director of rugby Brian Noble.
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Article: Data from the country's Geonet network of around 1,200 GPS monitoring stations suggest a large displacement following the massive quake.
Dr Roger Musson from the British Geological Survey (BGS) told BBC News the movement observed following the quake was "in line with what you get when you have an earthquake this big".
The quake probably shifted Earth on its axis by about 6.5 inches (16.5cm) and caused the planet to rotate somewhat faster, shortening the length of the day by about 1.8 millionths of a second.
Japan's meteorological agency has proposed updating the magnitude of the earthquake to 9.0.
This would make it the joint fifth biggest quake since instrumental records began, but other agencies have not yet followed suit.
Japan lies on the infamous "Ring of Fire", the line of frequent quakes and volcanic eruptions that encircles virtually the entire Pacific Rim.
The dense rock making up the Pacific Ocean's floor is being pulled down (subducted) underneath Japan as it moves westwards towards Eurasia.
Dr Brian Baptie, also from the BGS, explained that the quake occurred on the subduction zone along two tectonic plates, the Pacific plate to the east and another plate to the west, which many geologists regard as a continuation of the North American plate.
As the Pacific plate moves westwards underneath Japan, it drags the North American plate downwards and westwards with it.
As an earthquake occurs, the upper plate lurches upwards and eastwards, releasing strain built up as the two plates grind against one another.
In the most recent case, this movement gave a kick to the seabed, displacing a large amount of water and leading to the tsunami waves which devastated coastal areas in the Sendai region.
"The Pacific plate has moved a maximum of 20m westwards, but the amount of movement will vary even within the fault," said Dr Musson.
"That doesn't mean the whole country has shifted by that amount because the actual displacement will decay further from the fault."
Geonet is operated by Japan's Geographical Survey...

Summary: Japan's coastline may have shifted by as much as 4m (13ft) to the east following Friday's 8.9 Magnitude earthquake, according to experts.
###
Article: The opening stage of the race this year runs from Edinburgh to Kelso.
Riders will pass through the Borders town twice on 3 September as well as a number of other places in the region.
Residents and businesses are being invited to attend a session in the town's Cross Keys Hotel on 18 July to hear what impact the race will have and how they can benefit.
Councillor Mark Rowley said: "It is fantastic that Kelso is once again hosting a stage finish of the Tour of Britain and it will be great for the town, and especially local businesses, as we expect thousands of people from across the Borders and beyond to visit to see the race."
He said that it was a chance for the town to show "all that it has to offer".
"Of course an event of this nature does require some restrictions in terms of roads and parking," he added.
"I would encourage residents and businesses in the town centre to take the opportunity to find out more about the potential impacts and marketing opportunities at the drop-in event."
Stage one will leave Edinburgh and head into East Lothian, before climbing into the Lammermuir Hills and the Scottish Borders.
The riders will pass through Duns before a point-scoring sprint in Coldstream and the first pass through the finish line in The Square in Kelso.
The race then heads out to Stichill, Gordon and then Smailholm, before a King of the Mountains climb from Clintmains to the top of Scott's View.
Another King of the Mountains climb features as the race heads out of Melrose before the riders head back to Kelso for the final sprint to the finish line.
Three hours of live television coverage of the stage will feature on ITV4.
It promises to be a busy day of cycling in the region as the annual Tour O' The Borders sportive also takes place on the same day, starting in Peebles.

Summary: Businesses in the Borders are being urged to tap into the economic benefits of the Tour of Britain.
###
Article: Figures from Kantar Worldpanel for the 12 weeks to 4 December show a 13% sales rise for the products, despite sluggish growth overall for food retailers.
Sales of Morrisons' The Best range are up 35%, Asda's Extra Special products have increased sales by 15%, while Aldi's Specially Selected is up 10%.
Kantar expects premium private label sales to rise further this Christmas.
Fraser McKevitt, head of Kantar's retail and consumer insight, said 88% of consumers now bought items from premium own-label ranges.
"In the past 12 weeks, 6.3% of own-label purchases were from premium lines such as Tesco Finest and Sainsbury's Taste the Difference - well ahead of the 5.7% recorded last year," he said.
Aldi was the only retailer to record double-digit sales growth overall, with a 10% rise compared with the same period last year. It also increased its market share to 6.2%.
It was followed by Iceland, which posted an 8.6% jump in sales.
In the latest 12-week period, Tesco increased its market share from 28% to 28.3%, while Sainsbury's fell from 16.7% to 16.5% and Asda slipped from 16.2% to 15.3%.
Mr McKevitt said that shoppers were yet to feel any effect of inflation picking up, with a typical basket of everyday groceries 0.1% cheaper than this time last year.
However, some categories are on the rise, with fresh fish jumping 5.3%, chilled ready meals 2.3% more expensive, and beer up 2.1%.
Prices were still falling overall, and shoppers were spending less on items on special offer than they did this time last year.
"Some 36.9% of spending was on offers during the past 12 weeks, down from nearly 40% in the 12 weeks to December 2015," Mr McKevitt said.
"Promotional activity has dipped across all five of the biggest retailers, reflecting ongoing efforts to simplify shopping and offer more of an everyday low pricing model, which relies far less heavily on promotions."

Summary: Sales of supermarkets' premium own-label brands are booming as shoppers decide to treat themselves.
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Article: The figures come from a report produced by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra).
It uses assumptions about births, deaths and migration to project population changes.
It predicts that the working-age population will rise by less than 1% but the population aged 65 and over is projected to increase by almost 26%.
The report also assumes that the level of migration to Northern Ireland will continue to be very low.
It breaks down population changes by local government district and predicts the largest rise of 10.4%, or 21,400 people, in Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon.
The smallest increase is predicted for Derry City and Strabane, up by 1.5% or 2,200 people.
Derry City and Strabane is one of seven out of 11 areas projected to see a decline in their work-age populations.
Over the longer term, the population of Northern Ireland is projected to reach two million by mid-2034.
By mid-2038, annual population growth is projected to fall below 0.2% for the first time since mid-1999, due to a falling number of births and rising number of deaths as a result of an ageing population.
The population aged 65 and over is projected to increase by 74.4%, or 498,500 people, from mid-2014 to mid-2039, with the result that one in four people (24.7%) will be in this age category.
The report does not attempt to predict the impact that future government policies or changing economic circumstances might have on demographic behaviour.

Summary:


Ealing Central and Acton is one of about 20 seats that could shape the outcome of the election.

Article: The business lobby group said the UK's dependence on consumer spending and mortgages meant it was "particularly sensitive" to interest rates.
The warning came as the BCC trimmed its growth forecast for 2014 to 3% from 3.2% and for 2015 to 2.6% from 2.8%.
It said the lowered forecast was an "ominous warning sign".
The group blamed lower-than-expected growth in services, household consumption and exports for the cut in its growth forecast.
"Downgrades to our growth forecast are a warning sign that we still face a number of hurdles to securing a balanced and sustainable recovery," said BCC director general John Longworth.
He warned that factors such as the weak eurozone economy, slowing growth in emerging markets and political uncertainty in Ukraine and the Middle East were hitting both business and consumer confidence.
The BCC's chief economist David Kern said the impact of these "unavoidable factors" meant low interest rates were important to "minimise the risk of the recovery stalling".
Interest rates have been at their historic low of 0.5% for more than five years, with just two out of the Bank of England's nine-strong Monetary Policy Committee voting to increase rates in recent months.
The BCC expects a first interest rise to 0.75% in the third quarter of next year, with rates reaching 1.75% by the end of 2016.
Its prediction for growth this year is in line with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR)'s recent Autumn Statement forecast.
The government's independent forecaster expects 3% growth this year and 2.4% next year.
Despite the downgrade, if the predictions are correct, 2014 will mark the UK's fastest rate of growth for seven years.

Summary: A premature interest rate rise could present a "huge risk" to the British economy, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has warned.
###
Article: The Times Educational Supplement asked councils how much maintained schools had asked to borrow since 2013-14.
Borrowing in the 137 of 174 local authorities that responded rose £20m to £56.7m, the TES said, over three years.
The government says school budgets have been protected, but heads say they continue to face rising cost pressures.
The Department for Education added it was up to head teachers to prevent their schools from going into debt.
"We have always been clear that local authorities need to work with schools to prevent any deficits and surpluses becoming significant," it said.
The figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws looked at the financial years 2013-14, 2014-15, and up to the end of November 2015.
They do not cover academies which are not maintained by local authorities.
The data also revealed the average permitted deficit per school, for indebted schools, has almost doubled to £122,828 since 2013-14.
Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said cost pressures were really biting in schools.
"The simple fact is that there has been no real-terms increase in schools' budgets, and schools have had to deal with extra costs and inflationary pressures," he said.
Although the chancellor's Spending Review confirmed per pupil funding will be stable as numbers increase, the Institute of Fiscal Studies has warned there will be significant cost pressures of up to 8% on schools over the next five years.
Schools will have to find extra resources to cover rises in pension, National Insurance and pay costs over the course of this Parliament.
Mr Trobe predicted the situation was likely to get worse, saying: "If you can't balance the budget this year, you're going to struggle to balance the budget next year and to pay off the deficit."
The DfE is to look at what needs to be done to rebalance school funding from area to area and is launching a consultation on the issue.
Presently schools are funded at quite different levels, as local authorities receive...

Summary: State school debt in England and Wales has increased sharply in the past three years, as budgets tighten and cost pressures hit schools, a report says.
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Article: Ulster Farmer's Union president Ian Marshall told MPs that there were "husbands and wives who are completely opposed on this".
He said it was a "head versus heart" debate for many.
Mr Marshall said farmers were balancing the need for access to European markets against concerns over loss of identity.
But he repeated the union's position that in the "absence of a compelling case" for exit, it believed continued EU membership was the better option.
He told MPs that farming was not delivering profits and the industry relied on subsidies to survive.
Mr Marshall and the union's chief executive Wesley Aston were giving evidence to a parliamentary inquiry into issues around the referendum.
During more than an hour of evidence they were asked about subsidies, red tape and access to markets.
The officials said Northern Ireland's 30,000 farmers needed "information, guarantees and assurances to come to an informed decision".
The DUP's Ian Paisley said in "every day" of his 18 years as an elected representative he had had complaints from farmers about the complexity of the Common Agricultural Policy.
And he insisted that after an exit, the UK government would continue to provide financial support to farmers.
Mr Aston said key elements of any new UK arrangement post-Brexit would be a continuation of subsidies and measures to reduce red tape.
MPs were told that in 2013/14 farmers received Â£266m in direct subsidy support and a further Â£83m went to the wider rural economy.
The union officials questioned whether the UK government would replace EU subsidies to the same level.
Mr Marshall said in the absence of guarantees they would have "huge concerns" about what any new UK scheme would potentially look like.

Summary: Some Northern Ireland farm families are split down the middle over the EU referendum debate, a Westminster committee has been told.
###
Article: The rare medals badge of honour, which includes four grand crosses, belonged to Lieutenant-General Rowland Hill.
The commander of the British Army fought with the Duke of Wellington in 1815 and served in the Napoleonic Wars.
Auctioneers said the historical brooch, which was discovered in its original box in Derbyshire, "honoured and recognised his many acts of bravery".
More stories from the East Midlands
The medals include the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath, the Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and the Sword and the Peninsular Cross.
Charles Hanson, of Hanson's Auctioneers, said the badge was one of the "richest historical" military finds he has ever come across and was "worthy of a place in a museum".
"I am delighted to see this important historical item honouring a war hero and great leader of men sell for well above its estimate of £1,000 to £2,000," he said.
Mr Hanson added that General Hill was an "extraordinary man".
"He led armies of up to 30,000 men in some of the most important battles of the 1800s in Egypt, Spain, Portugal and France," he said.
"He inevitably had brushes with death. At the Battle of Waterloo, where Hill commanded the II Corps, he was lost in the melee and feared dead but escaped unscathed."
Source: Hanson's Auctioneers

Summary: A military bar brooch featuring medals awarded to a Battle of Waterloo soldier has been sold for £7,800 at auction.
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Article: It was a spirited, sometimes snippy affair that often seemed to spin out of control, as the back-and-forth between the three candidates - Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper and left-of-centre challengers Justin Trudeau of the Liberal Party and Thomas Mulcair of the New Democratic Party - descended into cacophony.
The debate's moderator, Toronto Globe and Mail editor-in-chief David Walmsley, pointed out in his introduction that this was only the second time a leaders debate had been held west of Toronto.
Its location - in the heart of Canada's oil and gas country - gave a particular sense of urgency to what was tabbed as the focus of the discussion, the economy.
The entire province of Alberta has been hit hard by job losses resulting from the sharp decline in oil prices, and its struggles have become a drag on the entire Canadian economy, which entered into recession earlier this year.
For his part, Mr Harper was single-minded in his focus on the danger he says his opponents pose to what he termed a "fragile economy".
He said Mr Trudeau's proposal for three years of deficit spending to fund increased infrastructure investment threatens out-of-control budget gaps. He accused Mr Mulcair, on the other hand, of risking harm to the economy with his plan to raise corporate taxes.
Mr Mulcair responded with a sharp criticism of Mr Harper's handling of the economy, which he said had become overly reliant on an energy sector that was bound to eventually falter.
"Mr Harper put all of his eggs in one basket," he said, "and then he dropped the basket."
As for Mr Trudeau, he employed a refrain made famous by an American president, Ronald Reagan. "Are you better off now than you were 10 years ago?" he asked, a reference to when Mr Harper's record-setting stretch as prime minister first began.
He added that Mr Harper had overseen the worst Canadian economic growth rate since the Great Depression.
Mr Harper had a reply at the ready, however, citing his stewardship of the Canadian economy during a time of global...

Summary: If there were any doubts that this has become a tight, hard-fought Canadian general election campaign, that went out the window very early during Thursday night's leaders' debate in Calgary.
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Article: Media playback is unsupported on your device
7 April 2015 Last updated at 08:39 BST
Labour needs a swing of 3.9% to oust the Conservative candidate in the west London constituency.
Some residents are concerned that local services cannot support the extra residents that house building will attract.
BBC London's Victoria Hollins reports.
The known candidates for the 2015 General Election for Ealing Central and Acton are:
Angie Bray Conservative Party, Jon Ball Liberal Democrats, Peter Florence UK Independence Party, Rupa Huq Labour Party, Tom Sharman Green Party

Summary:


Scores of local authorities in England plan to increase council tax by up to 5% in 2017-8, according to research.

Article: The 17-year-old attacked Gordon Friel, 40, in Paisley last September, leaving him with a string of injuries including bleeding on the brain.
He had earlier pled guilty to assaulting Mr Friel to his severe injury and to danger of his life.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was jailed for three years and four months.
He was initially charged with attempted murder for what the judge described as a "savage assault".
Two girls - aged 17 and 16 - have also admitted a charge of assaulting the tannery worker.
The 17-year-old girl was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work and the 16-year-old 100 hours. Neither of the girls can be identified.
The High Court in Glasgow heard the victim was set upon after he tried to act as a peacemaker when two teenagers began arguing.
Mr Friel had been standing in Paisley's High Street eating a takeaway when the row broke out.
He approached the pair and told the bigger of the two the smaller one did not want a fight.
Prosecutor David Taylor said: "At this point the 17-year-old girl became involved, dragging Gordon to the ground and punching and kicking him on the body.
"She was joined by the 16-year-old girl who shouted 'get him' and began punching him."
Mr Friel managed to get away before the 17-year-old boy arrived, the court was told.
The boy - who wrongly believed Mr Friel had attacked the older girl - and others then chased him to Forbes Place.
The group went on to stamp on the victim's head, leaving a "footwear mark" on his head.
He suffered bleeding in the brain, a liver injury and rib fractures, and needed three operations.
Mr Taylor said: "Before the incident Mr Friel weighed around 11 stone. On his discharge from hospital his weight was five-and-a-half stone.
"He was so weak he had to use a Zimmer frame to aid walking."
The court was told Mr Friel is now back at work and is expected to make a full recovery, although he has no memory of his ordeal.
The 17-year-old boy's lawyer, Billy Lavelle, said his client was now "ashamed of his actions".

Summary: A teenager who stamped on a man who was trying to break up a fight has been jailed.
###
Article: The Lego Movie follow-up took the top spot with $55.6m (£44.4m), while Fifty Shades Darker attracted $46.8m (£37.4m), according to estimates.
Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan both reprised their Fifty Shades of Grey roles, but the sequel couldn't match its predecessor's $85.2m ($68m) debut.
Based on EL James's erotic fiction, the film has received stinging reviews.
Keanu Reeves hit-man sequel John Wick: Chapter 2 took third place in the US and Canada.
The John Wick follow-up took $30m (£24m) between Friday and Sunday, more than double the original made when it opened in 2014.
The new Lego offering is a computer-generated action comedy that sees Batman try to stop Gotham City being taken over by The Joker.
The film, in which Will Arnett voices the Caped Crusader, was boosted by good reviews and a lack of family-friendly competition.
Rounding out the top five were M Night Shyamalan's psychological thriller Split, whose $9.3m (£7.4m) weekend takings swelled its total US and Canada earnings to $112.3m (£89.7m).
Oscar contender Hidden Figures followed, its Friday to Sunday takings $8m (£6.4m) boosting its total to $131.5m (£105m).
Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

Summary: The Lego Batman Movie has spanked Fifty Shades Darker in a battle of the sequels at the US box office.
###
Article: 19 February 2016 Last updated at 15:18 GMT
Researchers at the University of Roehampton, in England, studied a group of ten king penguins.
They measured the penguins' weight and studied their movements on a treadmill, finding that fatter birds were less steady on their feet.
The team think wobbly penguins may face greater danger from predators as they slide around and struggle to stay upright.

Summary: A new study has found penguins have more of a wobblier waddle when they put on weight.
###
Article: The rock band are accused of lifting the opening guitar line from Taurus, a 1968 track by the band Spirit.
But Page testified that he had never heard the song until people started posting comparisons online a few years ago.
"I knew I had never heard that before," he said. "It was totally alien to me."
He added: "When it started, I was confused by the comparison… [I thought] 'What's this got to do with Stairway?'"
Page admitted to owning several Spirit albums, but only remembered buying two of them, neither of which contained Taurus.
Under questioning, he conceded that he did own a copy of the band's self-titled debut, on which the track appears, but could not recall how it came to be part of his collection - which amounts to 4,329 albums and 5,882 CDs.
His testimony was delivered to a room packed full of journalists, fans and curious onlookers. The musician arrived carrying a guitar case, raising the prospect that he might play the riff in question, but that did not happen.
Led Zeppelin are being sued by the estate of Spirit's late guitarist, Randy Wolfe (who performed under the name Randy California).
Michael Skidmore, who represents the estate, claims Page or singer Robert Plant heard Taurus during the late 1960s and copied it for Stairway To Heaven.
During Wednesday's hearing, Skidmore's lawyer Francis Malofiy referred to Page as a "session musician" and "the alleged composer" of Stairway, and said the band had become famous by making other people's music their own.
However, Malofiy was admonished by several times by US District Judge R Gary Klausner for asking irrelevant questions and labouring his point.
He first drew the judge's ire with a prolonged series of questions about Led Zeppelin's interviews in the 1960s and 70s, many of which Page did not recall.
As Malofiy continued to ask Page whether he had ever talked about being a fan of Spirit, Judge Klausner interrupted, saying: "How many times can we beat a dead horse?"
Overall, 50 objections were sustained against the prosecution. At one point during...

Summary: Led Zeppelin's guitarist Jimmy Page has denied stealing the riff to Stairway to Heaven, as he took the stand at a copyright trial in the US.
###
Article: Those killed include an opposition youth leader, a pro-government candidate and a soldier.
The government wants a new constituent assembly with powers to rewrite the constitution and override congress.
The opposition says it is a power grab by President Nicolás Maduro and is boycotting the vote.
President Maduro says it is the only way to restore peace after months of protests and political stalemate between the government and the opposition controlled National Assembly.
As well as internal opposition, Venezuela faces mounting international criticism over the election and on Sunday the US said it was considering further sanctions.
As voting got under way on Sunday morning, anti-government protesters took to the streets despite a government ban and there were reports of clashes with police across the country.
At least three people were reported shot dead in the western state of Tachira - two teenagers and a soldier from the national guard.
Ricardo Campos, a youth secretary with the opposition Acción Democrática party, was shot dead during a protest in the north-eastern town of Cumana, prosecutors said.
Shortly before voting started, José Felix Pineda, a 39-year-old lawyer standing in the election, was also reportedly shot in his home in Bolivar state.
The El Nacional newspaper said 13 people had been killed across Venezuela in the past 24 hours.
In the capital Caracas, an explosion near one demonstration injured several police officers and set a number of their motorcycles on fire.
Security forces used armoured vehicles to dispel protesters in the Caracas district of El Paraíso amid the sound of gunfire, local reports said.
Voting was extended by an hour until 19:00 (23:00 GMT), electoral officials said, to allow all votes to be cast.
Will Grant, BBC News, Caracas
In the capital, voting was peaceful in many neighbourhoods but there were sporadic clashes between protesters and the security forces, especially in traditionally opposition-controlled areas.
With many thoroughfares closed by local citizens erecting...

Summary: Venezuela's election of a controversial new assembly has been disrupted by violence, with protests across the country and several deaths reported.
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Article: The Local Government Information Unit said 94% of the 131 councils it spoke to were intending to put up bills, with their finances at "breaking point".
A third of these, 34% in total, intend to hike bills by more than 2% in April.
Councils, many of whom have frozen bills in recent years, say it will not be enough to plug the funding "gap" exacerbated by the cost of social care.
But the government says council tax is expected to be lower in real terms at the end of this Parliament than it was in 2010.
Although councils in Wales were included in the survey, the Welsh government has said it will not allow councils to raise bills to pay for social care.
Ministers say they are bringing forward money to help councils pay for social care by increasing the "precept" - a supplement that councils are able to charge on bills - from 2% to 5% over the next two years.
Years of cuts to central government funding since 2011 have put pressure on the budgets of the 375 councils in England and Wales, with many paring back core services. Financial pressures on county councils and unitary authorities that provide adult social care have become particularly acute in the past year.
Surrey County Council abandoned controversial plans this week to hold a referendum on a 15% rise in council tax which it said was needed to pay for social care. It will now increase bills by 4.99% - the maximum it can do without holding a public vote.
Labour have accused the government of doing a sweetheart deal with the Tory-controlled council to call off the referendum - claims it denies.
Publishing its research, the Local Government Information Unit said five district councils which do not provide social care had wanted to hold local referendums to sanction council tax rises above 2% but had "thought better" of it in recent weeks.
Inflation, as measured by the CPI index, currently stands at 1.6% but is projected to rise to 2.7% next year.
The LGIU said there was growing concern in town halls that the current system of funding local authorities -...

Summary:


A retired police officer has reported Derbyshire police to the Home Office over claims they withheld evidence in a 1973 murder case.

Article: Thistle say that, if not, the two clubs and Hamilton would be due compensation for having fewer guaranteed games with Celtic and Rangers next season.
"That means an expected loss in revenues for the club of £120,000," Thistle suggested in a statement.
The Scottish Professional Football League has yet to comment.
Since the top flight was expanded to 12 clubs in 2013, the league has split into two sections of six teams for the final five fixtures.
"In previous seasons, where both Rangers and Celtic were in the Premiership, pre-split fixtures have been organised to ensure that every club plays three home games against the Old Firm," said Thistle.
"Without any notification from the SPFL to the contrary, we had expected that this practice would continue this season and that is the basis on which we and other clubs have budgeted.
"Having had no communication from the SPFL explaining these changes prior to this morning's announcement, Partick Thistle intends to seek compensation from the SPFL for all clubs concerned, or that they reconsider the fixture list to ensure a level playing field for all."
Thistle point out that Dundee, Hearts and Inverness Caledonian Thistle will have four home games each against the Old Firm before the split.
Expressing "anger and frustration", the Glasgow club say this will hand each of those clubs "an unexpected bonus" of around £120,000 each for the coming season.
Thistle, who had been looking forward to extra city derbies following Rangers' return to the top flight after a gap of four years, argue that this will also hamper them, Accies and Well in their quest for league points.
"Financial implications aside, we believe there is a significant sporting disadvantage created by the fixture list as it stands," they state.
"Pre-split, we will make four trips away to the two biggest clubs in the country while some clubs will only make two."
Thistle's statement was followed by Motherwell's board expressing its "extreme anger", saying it was a situation that had never occurred under the...

Summary: Motherwell and Partick Thistle have expressed their anger at new Scottish Premiership fixtures and are demanding an amended schedule.
###
Article: And those EU students who are already attending UK universities will continue to receive financial support.
The Student Loans Company has sought to reassure students and applicants following the EU referendum.
And Mr Johnson has tweeted: "UK welcomes EU students."
"Current students and this autumn's applicants will continue to receive student finance for duration of their course," said the Twitter message from the minister.
Universities have been seeking clarity about the implications of Brexit for their EU students, international exchanges and for funding from EU research projects.
A statement from the Student Loans Company says that those EU students who are already studying in the UK will not face any changes to financial support, such as loans to cover tuition fees.
The current arrangements will also remain in place for those who have applied and are expecting to begin university courses in the autumn.
But the arrangements for EU students beginning courses in the following year - autumn 2017 - have still to be clarified.
There are about 125,000 EU students in higher education in the UK, with Germany and France the biggest senders.
But among those non-UK students starting university in the UK last year, there were more students from China than from all the EU countries put together.
Following the vote to leave the EU, Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group of universities, said that the Brexit  decision "creates significant uncertainty" for higher education.
She said that the Russell Group universities would seek assurances from the government that "staff and students currently working and studying at our universities can continue to do so after the UK negotiates leaving the EU".
Universities have been particularly concerned about the future of EU research funding, with analysis by the Royal Society showing that the UK is one of the largest recipients.
It suggests that between 2007 and 2013, the UK received 8.8bn euros (Â£7.3bn) in direct EU research funding and had contributed 5.4bn euros...

Summary: Students from the European Union starting university courses in the UK this autumn will have their student loans funding honoured, University Minister Jo Johnson has said.
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Article: The incident took place in Cables Wynd at about 23:00 on Friday 26 August.
A 25-year-old man suffered a gunshot wound to his leg and was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Police said it was an "isolated incident".
A firearm, believed to be used in the incident, was recovered. A 30-year-old has also previously been arrested and charged.
The 25-year-old was expected to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday.

Summary: A 25-year-old man has been arrested over the discharge of a firearm in Leith, Edinburgh.
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Article: For so long a poor relation in terms of finances, attendances and prestige compared to the English Premiership or France's Top 14, it would appear change is again coming to the competition.
The how, the why and even the where is very much up for discussion, but it seems likely that the Pro12 will not continue in its current guise beyond 2017-18.
So what next for the premier domestic rugby competition for teams from Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Italy?
Will a league once designed for the Celtic nations soon be a competition throughout Europe? Will it be a worldwide league?
Do not count it out.
Originally designed as a Celtic competition, the event formerly known as the Celtic League is already very different to the one that was launched in 2001.
The establishment of the competition led to five professional regions being created in Wales for the 2003 season, with Newport Gwent Dragons, Cardiff Blues, Llanelli Scarlets and Neath-Swansea Ospreys joined by the now defunct Celtic Warriors, competing with Irish regions Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster.
Scottish sides Edinburgh Reivers, Glasgow and Scottish Borders, completed the line-up.
Unfortunately, the launch of the Welsh regions coincided with both the 2003 World Cup and then the 2004 Six Nations, meaning many top players missed much of the season.
That, arguably, is an issue the Pro12 has never fully been able to address, but it did not help matters that season, though it was not half as big a blow as when the Celtic Warriors went into liquidation 12 months later after just a single season in operation.
At the end of the 2007-8 season, 11 became 10 when Scottish Borders were disbanded and Glasgow moved into their Firhill home.
The division badly needed reinvigoration and that arrived with yet more change, with the tournament revamped and expanded in 2010 to include Italian sides Treviso and Aironi.
Aironi lasted two seasons before they left the set-up, replaced by Zebre who have completed the 12-team tournament since 2012.
However, the 2017-18 season...

Summary: It would appear that the only certainty on the future of the Pro12 is that the competition faces an uncertain future.
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Article: The technology was designed by Philips and has been installed at a Carrefour supermarket in Lille.
It transmits codes via light waves, which are undetectable to the eye but can be picked up by a phone camera.
The innovation offers an alternative to Bluetooth-based "beacons", which are being installed by many retailers.
"We are always on the lookout for innovations to facilitate customers' navigation," explained Carrefour executive Celine Martin.
"Thanks to this new application, which uses Philips technology, we are now able to provide our customers at the EuraLille Carrefour with a new service, enabling them to quickly search and locate their preferred promotions or detect all the promotions around them."
Philips said that an added benefit was that its system required 50% less electricity than the old lights it had replaced.
Philips is not the only organisation to have researched ways to transmit data via specialised LED bulbs.
Engineers at the University of Edinburgh are working on a "li-fi" system capable of transmitting data at up to 10 gigabits per second, which they suggest could offer an alternative to radio waves.
The Philips scheme is more limited in its scope, but has the benefit of being ready for market.
It works by making each of the fitted LEDs transmit a distinct location code.
If users open a compatible app and let their smartphone camera look upwards, this can be used to determine their location - accurate to up to 1m - and the direction they are facing.
It functions in a similar way to GPS-based maps used outdoors, and compares favourably to wi-fi based location systems, which are typically accurate to only 3-5m.
Many retailers, however, are investing instead in beacons - small Bluetooth 4 transmitters that allow compatible apps to work out how far away a user is standing, but not their precise position.
Beacons have the benefit of being cheaper and potentially easier to try out than replacing a store's complete lighting system.
However, one expert saw the merits of Philips's...

Summary: French shoppers have become the first to experience a new LED lighting system that sends special offers and location data to their smartphones.
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Article: Bakewell man Stephen Downing was convicted in 1974 for killing Wendy Sewell but that was overturned in 2002.
Chris Clark said he has uncovered a crucial pathology report showing she was strangled, which was never told to the jury.
The Home Office said it would send any new criminal evidence to the police.
Evidence of police misconduct would be referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, the Home Office added.
Derbyshire police said the case was closed after a reinvestigation in 2002.
Mr Clark, a retired Norfolk police officer, said he has sent his findings to the Home Office after obtaining the original pathology report last month.
He said he believed the report showed Mrs Sewell had clear signs of being strangled.
She was found battered in a Bakewell cemetery in 1973 and died in hospital two days later.
Mr Downing admitted beating her with a pickaxe handle but later retracted that statement, only to be found guilty by a jury.
"I'm reporting the facts as I see them. The pathologist had evidence in his report that could have exonerated Stephen Downing," Mr Clark said.
He said the pathologist's report showed bruising on her neck consistent with a "knotted ligature" used to garrotte her and a rash in her lungs and airways, possibly caused by strangulation.
Mr Clark said none of this was used in Mr Downing's trial. He added the evidence may mean her death was linked to the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe.
Mr Downing was 17 at the time of Mrs Sewell's murder but was assessed as having a mental age of 11.
His father Ray Downing and Matlock Mercury editor Don Hale campaigned for his release and in 2002 the Court of Appeal found his conviction unsafe because of "procedural reasons".
Mr Hale said the pathology report directly conflicted with the evidence the police presented at the time and called for an independent investigation into the murder.
"This information was available within two or three days of Mr Downing being arrested and it completely contradicts this so-called confession," he said.
But...

Summary:


UK retail sales rose by more than expected in November, as shops offered promotions at the end of the month in the run up to Black Friday.

Article: Letter combinations such as HJ or NS - denoting Hitler Youth and National Socialism - have long been prohibited on personalised plates in Austria.
Now transport officials have published a list of more than 30 more cryptic codes that have been banned.
They include number combinations such as 88, which represents "Heil Hitler".
New legislation, which came into force on Thursday, also outlaws the use of IS or ISIS on personalised number plates in a bid to stop people showing their support for the Islamic State group.
"It has been forbidden to have obvious Nazi number plates since personalised plates went on sale in 1989," a spokeswoman for Austria's transport ministry told the BBC.
"But then we learned that the far-right scene is moving away from the more obvious codes to more hidden ones.
"So we had to change the law. Civil servants deciding if someone can choose a certain number plate now know which codes are being used by the far-right scene."
Combinations no longer allowed include:
Only new number plates will be affected by the change in the law.
Abbreviations now outlawed include FG, which stands for "Fuehrer's Geburtstag", meaning "leader's birthday", and WP for "white power".
Number combinations have not previously been included, but now codes such as 18 - meaning 'Adolf Hitler' because of where A and H come in the alphabet - are also now prohibited.
The new list was compiled in co-operation with the Mauthausen Committee, an organisation representing former concentration camp prisoners. Officials say it is not exhaustive.
Austrian Transport Minister Alois Stoeger, who pushed for the law change, has said: "National Socialist ideology has no place in our society."
More than half a million Austrians have currently personalised licence plates, according to Austria's public broadcaster, ORF.
The move in Austria follows similar efforts in Germany to crack down on neo-Nazi symbols.
In Germany, the law says that number plates must not offend public morals. Each state has its own list of banned combinations, and...

Summary: Austria is cracking down on personalised number plates used by neo-Nazis, by banning lesser-known codes with hidden far-right symbolism.
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Article: Critics said the Forest Heath District Council's Core Strategy Development Plan would destroy the unique, horse-friendly character of the town.
Racehorse owner Lord Derby wanted to build about 1,200 houses, a hotel, park and ride scheme and a retail park on the 160-acre Hatchfield Farm site.
Mr Justice Collins said an EU planning directive had not been complied with.
The judge quashed the proposed central housing policy of the core strategy as it affects Newmarket.
He said a strategic environmental assessment did not contain all the relevant information.
Forest Heath District Council had adopted the new housing strategy in May last year.
The council was refused leave to appeal.
Lord Derby had supported the new strategy and applied for planning permission for the houses, hotel, park-and-ride scheme and retail park.
His planning application was refused, but the appeal process is continuing and could be affected by the High Court's decision.
Previously racehorse trainers and prominent figures in the racing world had said the extra traffic caused by the development would make it unsafe for the 3,000 horses that cross Newmarket's roads each day.
They also said urban development would ultimately lead to the demise of Newmarket as a racing town.
Lord Derby said he believed the development was the best way to meet targets for new homes, and the last thing he intended to do was threaten the town.

Summary: Plans for a controversial housing strategy for Newmarket have been ruled "legally flawed" by the High Court.
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Article: US comedian Ari Shaffir is 15 minutes late for our interview.
"I get lost a lot," he says apologetically. He is in Scotland, performing at the Edinburgh fringe festival.
He couldn't map app his way to the BBC studio because, for the past 20 months, he has been without a smartphone.
In December 2014, Shaffir was growing concerned about the amount of time he was spending using his iPhone - especially on social media - and was considering abandoning his data plan so that he could only access the internet via wi-fi.
"I was noticing a lot of distraction on my part - constantly checking social media, not to mention email and text," he says.
"You need some of it for work and the rest is distracting you from doing your work. If you post a photo on Instagram you don't need to watch the people saying, 'Yeah I like it' - people are constantly checking their 'likes'."
So when one evening he accidentally left his handset in the back of a taxi, he decided to go cold turkey.
The first six months were difficult.
"I felt withdrawal symptoms at first, kind of the way I felt when I quit smoking," he said.
But he says he now sleeps better, talks to more people and takes more interest in his surroundings as a smartphone-free individual - and jokes that he feels "superior" to his smartphone-absorbed friends.
"I see myself as a sober alcoholic - I can't handle it," he says.
"A lot of my friends said, 'Just use [the phone] less', but that's like walking around with a pack of cigarettes in your pocket and saying just don't smoke."
Dr Andrew Przybylski, an experimental psychologist and research fellow at Oxford University's Internet Institute, thinks the comparison is a little strong.
"There is no scientific evidence that smartphones are addictive in the clinical sense," he told the BBC.
"But because they put so many possibilities at our fingertips they are very attractive."
Dr Przybylski added that there "isn't any good research" as yet to suggest that heavy use of social media causes changes in the brain.
"If anything, brain...

Summary: A recent report by UK regulator Ofcom claimed that 59% of Brits consider themselves to be "hooked" on their handsets - but not everybody is a slave to their smartphone, reports Zoe Kleinman.
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Article: Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson challenged the SNP to match her party's pledge on the use of new tax powers for Scotland.
SNP Finance Secretary John Swinney told the BBC he would not make such a promise "today".
He said his party's tax plans would be set out before the Holyrood election.
Scotland will get complete control over income tax rates and bands as part of the powers package contained in the Scotland Bill, which was published on Thursday.
Ms Davidson has vowed that her party would never raise income tax in Scotland higher than the rates and bands in the rest of the UK, and challenged other Scottish parties to do the same.
Asked on Sunday Politics Scotland whether he would match the pledge, Mr Swinney said: "I can't give that pledge today, and I won't give it."
He said his party would "give consideration" to varying income tax rates and bands as it drew up its manifesto for next year's Scottish Parliament election, adding that his government already had a strong track record on using new tax powers.
Mr Swinney added: "What we've demonstrated already with the tax powers that have been deployed to us on stamp duty and landfill tax is that at the first available opportunity the Scottish government has acted on those taxes.
"On stamp duty we've changed it very radically to reflect our principled position that we believe tax should be structured on the basis of ability to pay."
Following its landslide victory in the general election, the SNP has been pressing the UK government for more powers than those already promised by the Smith Commission, which followed the independence referendum.
Mr Swinney said powers over employment, wealth generation and welfare would be sought.
However, Ms Davidson said the debate was moving now from what new powers Scotland should have, to how best to use what has already been given.
She said: "I believe we need to send an early signal to reassure investors, firms and families that new taxes in Scotland will not simply mean higher ones.
"Let's hear it loud and clear...

Summary: The SNP has rejected a call from the Conservatives to rule out raising income tax in Scotland higher than the rates and bands in the rest of the UK.
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Article: The 11-year-old bird, called Arthur, was swept away by strong winds during a display at the Royal Bath and West Show on Wednesday.
The "massive great" bird has since been spotted in Castle Carey in Somerset and Devizes in Wiltshire.
Birds of Prey Displays is asking anyone who sees him not to approach him and to contact them instead.
The white-headed vulture was taking part in an Eagle and Vulture show on the opening day of the show in Shepton Mallet, when it was blown off course.
Ben Potter, the bird's owner, said the "massive great big glove puppet of a vulture" should be easy to spot.
"He's a 12lb vulture, with a 6ft wingspan - you can't miss him," he said.
"And he will make himself really obvious to people because he knows people are part of his life so he will be quite visual."
Since Wednesday, the massive bird has been spotted in a field in Castle Cary, been seen being "harassed by two rooks" as it flew over Sparkford in Somerset, and surprised a driver in Devizes in Wiltshire.
"If you see it give me a call and I'll come and get it," said Mr Potter.
"The only thing I do ask is that people don't go to him - not because he's dangerous - mainly because he'll be spooked and keep moving and moving and moving."

Summary: A vulture that went missing in Somerset four days ago has still not been caught despite several sightings.
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Article: Sales volumes increased by 1.7% in November from the month before, the Office for National Statistics said.
Compared with the same month last year, sales were up by 5%.
However, Keith Richardson from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking said it was "too early" to say whether Black Friday was really a success for retailers.
"Retailers were better prepared this year and adapted the US-style Black Friday to better reflect British culture. Some chose not to take part while many others spread the discounts over several days to better protect margins and ease the burden on their websites and IT platforms."
The ONS said the amount spent by shoppers was up 1.4% in November compared with the month before, and was also up 1.4% from the same point a year earlier.
The value of online sales increased by 4.9% in November from October, and were 12.7% higher compared with last year.
"Retailers may see some pay-back after the Black Friday promotions led shoppers to pull-forward spending that would otherwise have taken place in December, but the underlying sales trend looks set to remain strong as we head into 2016," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.
He added that spending was not just being driven by discounts. "Households are benefitting from improved job security, low inflation and falling energy prices, the latter helping free-up more income to boost retail sales."

Summary: